Western Railroad Discussion > Class 1 Railroads lack of Customer Communication

Few people that deal with class 1 railroads realize just how bad they are when it comes to communication with customers and connecting railroads. Grain elevator at Four Lakes, WA was expecting a unit grain shuttle train in this afternoon to load. This morning the info was that the crew was on duty at 9:14am in Pasco and expecting the train to arrive in Cheney around 1pm. By 2pm with no notice or updates given, had to call the BNSF chief dispatcher. Train was still sitting in Pasco, the crew stolen for some other train. And this is TYPICAL of what it's like working with a class 1 railroad!

Ted Curphey
Ontario, OR



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 01/08/20 16:16 by funnelfan.

When you say Pasco it makes me think you are talking about BNSF.  If it was UP or any other It would not be a surprise.

     Probably so since they called the BNSF dispatcher.
 

Ted true many shortlines I work with are seeing more and more of this across the board and its not just UP or CSX BNSf now seems to be doing more PSR like operations it just not as obvious.  All it wold have taken was a call from the BNSF as I am sure based on my knowledge of the operations at Cheney  you would have had a crew possibly on duty waiting to make a handoff to go up the branch.

cctgm Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> Ted true many shortlines I work with are seeing
> more and more of this across the board and its not
> just UP or CSX BNSf now seems to be doing more PSR
> like operations it just not as obvious.

Precision Scheduled...

That means that there was no need to call. The train would be there at the scheduled time.No Problem.

(Oh, y'mean PRS if [emission from the #2 end of a bull]?)


> All it
> wold have taken was a call from the BNSF as I am
> sure based on my knowledge of the operations at
> Cheney  you would have had a crew possibly on
> duty waiting to make a handoff to go up the
> branch.

Once upon a time in Days of Old, train dispatchers managed their territory. Part of that was providing figures and call figures (finals for you Santa Fe folks) to passenger stations, terminals, and connecting lines at junctions. That was before management decided to increase workload several times over with closing of stations, communication by radio, faxes, emails, and layers of mother-may-I.

It used to be so easy

rrrrrrrrrrrring

Connell

CW Connection train Cheney 1435 for a call

1435 allright

How long did that take? How about now wading through a dial phone that is constantly ringing and a radio full of cross talk (although radio is much better now than when I was handling trains https://www.trainorders.com/discussion/read.php?11,2350325,2350529#2350529)

TAW

Ted,
 I feel your pain , we have the same problems here getting grain trains to unload from class one connections. By far the worst is KCS to work with, we have had a 100 car shuttle get tied down in Venice IL literally 10 minutes by rail from Cargill in East St Louis, IL. We have had KCS tie a train down for 2 days and not give it to Cargill. CSX is bad also
                                                                                                                                                                                                        Mark Mautner

funnelfan Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> Few people that deal with class 1 railroads
> realize just how bad they are when it comes to
> communication with customers and connecting
> railroads. Grain elevator at Four Lakes, WA was
> expecting a unit grain shuttle train in this
> afternoon to load. This morning the info was that
> the crew was on duty at 9:14am in Pasco and
> expecting the train to arrive in Cheney around
> 1pm. By 2pm with no notice or updates given, had
> to call the BNSF chief dispatcher. Train was still
> sitting in Pasco, the crew stolen for some other
> train. And this is TYPICAL of what it's like
> working with a class 1 railroad!

Should see what it’s like working FOR a class one railroad!

stlrailfan Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> Ted,
>  I feel your pain , we have the same problems
> here getting grain trains to unload from class one
> connections. By far the worst is KCS to work with,
> we have had a 100 car shuttle get tied down in
> Venice IL literally 10 minutes by rail from
> Cargill in East St Louis, IL. We have had KCS tie
> a train down for 2 days and not give it to
> Cargill. (SNIP)

And the railroads wonder why customers are demanding re-regulation...

Regulation isn't the answer, some roads were just as bad or worse before Staggers. The answer is a BOD with some
power to do what a Board is supposed to do and give the STB power to truly settle complaints.

Out 

It's really disheartening working for a service-oriented industry and seeing service continually erode because of crappy management, a lousy corporate culture, and idiotic productivity mandates. I don't know how rail customers put up with it. Those of us in the trenches are as fed up with it as our customers are. Regulation may not be the answer but SOMETHING needs to change soon. Every time the railroads get this arrogant, it eventually blows up in their faces. 

Amen.   Its not purely a Class 1 railroad problem, but many shortline conglomerates suffer from the same issues.  Once these short-line conglomerates consolidate customer service and back-office functions once handled locally, service to customers as well as internal employee morale tends to drop.  When employee morale drops, service degradation is sure to follow. Personally, we need to break-up some of these shortline conglomerates.  I have both worked in management as a major railroad customer (30,000+ cars a year) and as a railroad manager for nearly 20 years.  I shake my head every day at how poor customer service has become. From a customer perspective, I had to file my own informal complaint with the STB against a Class 1 railroad. This does get the railroad's attention, but Class 1's hold the power. Finally, the difference in management style between BNSF and UP is night and day, having worked for both...BNSF gets the gold star..

trainjunkie Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> It's really disheartening working for a
> service-oriented industry and seeing service
> continually erode because of crappy management, a
> lousy corporate culture, and idiotic productivity
> mandates. I don't know how rail customers put up
> with it. Those of us in the trenches are as fed up
> with it as our customers are. Regulation may not
> be the answer but SOMETHING needs to change soon.
> Every time the railroads get this arrogant, it
> eventually blows up in their faces. 

Poor customer service is a problem all over. In restaurants, government offices, as well as railroads.  If the business keeps rolling in, and nobody cares...

Until it doesn't, and your customers are gone.  Fortunately, many railroads still operate in, and think like, monopolies.